Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

Note! Your computer might be affected by .Alcohol Files Virus and other threats.

Threats such as .Alcohol Files Virus may be persistent on your system. They tend to re-appear if not fully deleted. A malware removal tool like SpyHunter will help you to remove malicious programs, saving you the time and the struggle of tracking down numerous malicious files.SpyHunter’s scanner is free but the paid version is needed to remove the malware threats. Read SpyHunter’s EULA and Privacy Policy

Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

This article has been created to help you by explaining how you can remove the .Alcohol variant of GlobeImposter ransomware and how to restore files that have been encrypted by virus.

A new variant of GlobeImposter ransomware has been reported to append the .Alcohol file extension to the files that have been encrypted by it. The ransomware aims to download and install multiple different malicious files which encrypt the important documents on your computer. This ultimately results in the .Alcohol files virus making the files no longer able to be opened after which the ransomware drops a ransom note file, called how_to_back_files.html with the classic GlobeImposter ransom note. If your computer has been infected by this variant of GlobeImposter ransomware we advise that you read this article and learn how to remove this GlobeImposter version and decrypt .Alcohol encrypted files without having to pay ransom.

Threat Summary

Name

.Alcohol Files Virus

Type

Ransomware, Cryptovirus

Short Description

A variant of the GlobeImposter virus. Encrypts files and asks victims to pay ransom.

Windows Data Recovery by Stellar PhoenixNotice! This product scans your drive sectors to recover lost files and it may not recover 100% of the encrypted files, but only few of them, depending on the situation and whether or not you have reformatted your drive.

GlobeImposter .Alcohol Virus -Distribution

The .Alcohol files variant of GlobeImposter ransomware infection has the one and only purpose to infect your PC unobstructed and then encrypt your files. To reac it’s end goal, the malware may use various different types of spam e-mails. Such e-mails often contain malicious e-mail attachments which only pose as the legitimate files, like receipts, banking statements or invoices. It is also possible that you may encounter fake e-mails from big companies, like PayPal, eBay, DHL, Amazon and others. In addition to this, the e-mails may also contain malicious web links which pose as fake buttons, but lead to an automated infection process, for example:

Besides via e-mail, you may also become a victim of the .Alcohol variant of GlobeImposter ransomware as a result of having to open the malicious file after downloading it from online software-providing website with low reputations. Such programs pretend to be:

Fake installers of freeware.

Portable free programs.

Cracks.

Patches for software.

Licence activators.

Key generators for programs.

.Alcohol GlobeImposter Ransomware – Activity

The .Alcohol files virus is the type of virus, belonging to the ransomware kind, meaning that it aims to get your files to no loger be able to be opened, at least until you pay the crooks behind it in BitCoin. To reach it’s goal, the malware may drop a malicious executable, which may reside in the following Windows directories under a different, often random name:

%AppData%

%Local%

%Roaming%

%LocalLow%

%Temp%

%SystemDrive%

Once the malicious fiels of this GlobeImposter version are dropped on the victim PC, the ransomware also drops it’s ransom note file, called how_to_back_files.html. The ransom note appears like the following and asks victims to send 1 file to the crooks via e-mail:

After the malicious files are dropped, the GlobeImposter virus may also create values in the following registry sub-keys on victims’ computers:

The sub-keys are responsible for automatically running the malicious files of this ransowmare on the victim’s computer when he or she logs in Windows.

.Alcohol GlobeImposter Ransomware – Encryption Process

To encrypt the files on the computers that have been infected by it, the .Alcohol GlobeImposter ransowmare may first scan for the files it wants to render no longer usable. The virus may look for often used types of files, such as:

Documents.

Videos.

Images.

Archives.

Virtual Drives.

In addition to this, the virus may also skip encrypting files in important folders of Windows, in order for victims to still be able to use their computer. Naturally, the encrypted files have the .Alcohol file extension added to them and they no longer look the same:

Remove .Alcohol Files Virus and Restore Encrypted Data

In order to make sure that this variant of GlobeImposter ransomware is gone from your computer, we strongly advise that you follow the removal instructions underneath. If manual removal does not work for you or you lack the experience in performing it, it is strongly reccomended to remove the .Alcohol files virus automatically with the aid of an advanced anti-malware software. According to security experts, such software aims to fully erase all of the related files and objects to .Alcohol ransomware and then ensure that your computer is fully protected against these types of malware and other intrusive software in the future.

If you want to decrypt the .Alcohol encrypted files and use them again, be advised that you are extremely lucky, because most GlobeImposter ranosmware variants are decryptable. After the removal instructions you can find a download link to Emsisoft’s decryption tool for GlobeImposter ransomware viruses.

Note! Your computer system may be affected by .Alcohol Files Virus and other threats.Scan Your PC with SpyHunter SpyHunter is a powerful malware removal tool designed to help users with in-depth system security analysis, detection and removal of threats such as .Alcohol Files Virus.Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.

To remove .Alcohol Files Virus follow these steps:

Manual Removal Usually Takes Time and You Risk Damaging Your Files If Not Careful!

We Recommend To Scan Your PC with SpyHunter

Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria

Boot Your PC Into Safe Mode

1. For Windows XP, Vista and 7. 2. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. Fix registry entries created by malware and PUPs on your PC.

For Windows XP, Vista and 7 systems:

1. Remove all CDs and DVDs, and then Restart your PC from the “Start” menu. 2. Select one of the two options provided below:

– For PCs with a single operating system: Press “F8” repeatedly after the first boot screen shows up during the restart of your computer. In case the Windows logo appears on the screen, you have to repeat the same task again.

– For PCs with multiple operating systems: Тhe arrow keys will help you select the operating system you prefer to start in Safe Mode. Press “F8” just as described for a single operating system.

3. As the “Advanced Boot Options” screen appears, select the Safe Mode option you want using the arrow keys. As you make your selection, press “Enter“.

4. Log on to your computer using your administrator account

While your computer is in Safe Mode, the words “Safe Mode” will appear in all four corners of your screen.

Step 1: Open up the Start Menu.

Step 2: Click on the Power button (for Windows 8 it is the little arrow next to the “Shut Down” button) and whilst holding down “Shift” click on Restart.

Step 3: After reboot, a blue menu with options will appear. From them you should choose Troubleshoot.

Step 4: You will see the Troubleshoot menu. From this menu choose Advanced Options.

Step 7: A menu will appear upon reboot. You can choose any of the three Safe Mode options by pressing its corresponding number and the machine will restart.

Some malicious scripts may modify the registry entries on your computer to change different settings. This is why cleaning your Windows Registry Database is recommended. Since the tutorial on how to do this is a bit long and tampering with registries could damage your computer if not done properly you should refer and follow our instructive article about fixing registry entries, especially if you are unexperienced in that area.

2. Find files created by .Alcohol Files Virus on your PC

Find files created by .Alcohol Files Virus

1. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. 2. For Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

For Newer Windows Operating Systems

Step 1:

On your keyboard press + R and write explorer.exe in the Run text box and then click on the Ok button.

Step 2:

Click on your PC from the quick access bar. This is usually an icon with a monitor and its name is either “My Computer”, “My PC” or “This PC” or whatever you have named it.

Step 3:

Navigate to the search box in the top-right of your PC’s screen and type “fileextension:” and after which type the file extension. If you are looking for malicious executables, an example may be “fileextension:exe”. After doing that, leave a space and type the file name you believe the malware has created. Here is how it may appear if your file has been found:

N.B. We recommend to wait for the green loading bar in the navination box to fill up in case the PC is looking for the file and hasn’t found it yet.

For Older Windows Operating Systems

In older Windows OS’s the conventional approach should be the effective one:

Step 1:

Click on the Start Menu icon (usually on your bottom-left) and then choose the Search preference.

Step 2:

After the search window appears, choose More Advanced Options from the search assistant box. Another way is by clicking on All Files and Folders.

Step 3:

After that type the name of the file you are looking for and click on the Search button. This might take some time after which results will appear. If you have found the malicious file, you may copy or open its location by right-clicking on it.

Now you should be able to discover any file on Windows as long as it is on your hard drive and is not concealed via special software.

IMPORTANT!Before starting the Automatic Removal below, please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode. This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.

It is recommended to run a scan before purchasing the full version of the software to make sure that the current version of the malware can be detected by SpyHunter. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.

Step 2: Guide yourself by the download instructions provided for each browser.

Step 3: After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to update automatically.

Step 1: After the update process has finished, click on the ‘Malware/PC Scan’ tab. A new window will appear. Click on ‘Start Scan’.

Step 2: After SpyHunter has finished scanning your PC for any files of the associated threat and found them, you can try to get them removed automatically and permanently by clicking on the ‘Next’ button.

Step 3: If any threats have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart your PC.

Back up your data to secure it against attacks in the future

IMPORTANT! Before reading the Windows backup instructions, we highly recommend to back up your data with a cloud backup solution and insure your files against any type of loss, even from the most severe threats. We recommend you to read more about it and to download SOS Online Backup.

4. Try to Restore files encrypted by .Alcohol Files Virus

Try to Restore Files Encrypted by .Alcohol Files Virus

Ransomware infections and .Alcohol Files Virus aim to encrypt your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to decrypt. This is why we have suggested several alternative methods that may help you go around direct decryption and try to restore your files. Bear in mind that these methods may not be 100% effective but may also help you a little or a lot in different situations.

Method 2: Trying Kaspersky and EmsiSoft’s decryptors.If the first method does not work, we suggest trying to use decryptors for other ransomware viruses, in case your virus is a variant of them. The two primary developers of decryptors are Kaspersky and EmsiSoft, links to which we have provided below:

Method 4: Finding the decryption key while the cryptovirus sends it over a network via a sniffing tool.

Another way to decrypt the files is by using a Network Sniffer to get the encryption key, while files are encrypted on your system. A Network Sniffer is a program and/or device monitoring data traveling over a network, such as its internet traffic and internet packets. If you have a sniffer set before the attack happened you might get information about the decryption key. See how-to instructions below:

Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.